Stop patronising special centres, WAEC boss tells parents, prospective candidates

The Head, Nigeria National Office of the West African Examinations Council, Dr. Olu Adenipekun, has cautioned Nigerians, especially parents and prospective candidates, against patronising ‘special centres’ for examinations.
Adenipekun said this in a chat with our correspondent after unveiling additional diet of the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination for private candidates in the country, recently.
According to him, continued patronage of such centres by parents and students has made the perpetrators of the illegal act to thrive and this has caused a lot of setback for excellence, which the council stands
for.
“I will also caution parents to stop calling them special centres, because anything that is special is supposed to be good. But these centres are bad as they are taking every dubious step to make sure those that registered through them pass,” Adenipekun said.
He disclosed that the additional diet of the WASSCE for private candidates became necessary to afford school candidates wishing to retake the examination the opportunity of doing so with the private candidate diet.
“This is also necessary because of the level of desperation oftentimes displayed by the perpetrators of examination malpractice at private candidates’ examination centres,” he said.
He said the council had also observed the penchant by external candidates to register for the WASSCE for school candidates, resulting in an astronomical increase in the number of examination cheats being caught during the conduct of the
examination.
The HNO assured parents that the council would continue to be driven by its mandate to assist in the development of sound
education.
He assured stakeholders that the council would ensure the maintenance of education standards, adding that the people of West Africa had been given a vision of the great potential, which was beyond examination.
Disclosing that the diet would be starting with Nigeria, he added that the remaining member countries of WAEC had indicated their readiness to follow suit.
“The first series of the WASSCE for private candidates, 2018, will be urban-based examination and candidates will be examined in 19 subjects, with over 450 centres across the states in Nigeria. There are 234 centres in Lagos alone,” he disclosed.